PHILADELPHIA - On North Fifth Street in Northern Liberties, Louis Bell was known by his nickname, "Joe" - a friendly retired police officer who enjoyed holiday barbecues, admiring his flower-filled front garden, and sitting on his steps swapping jokes and chitchat. Whenever a neighbor suffered a loss in the family, Bell, 70, who used a wheelchair after falling ill a few ...

GROVE CITY -- The Wendell August Forge, an American institution that has furnished generations of families with its hand-cast decorative ornaments and plates, burned to the ground Saturday afternoon. About 25 employees and 15 tourists and shoppers were in the building when the fire started. They all escaped unharmed. The fire started around 2 p.m. in a workshop where an employee ...

The Somerville Board of Aldermen approved six new additions to the permanent firefighter reserve list at their Dec. 16 meeting. All full-time, active firefighters must be appointed to this reserve list to get a job with the Somerville Fire Department. Missing from the lineup, however, was the most prominent would-be Somerville firefighter: Iraq veteran Sean O'Brien. Over the summer, O'Brien successfully ...

BROCKTON, MA - A Brockton firefighter had a wild wake-up call on his way to work Sunday after discovering a 3-foot alligator crossing the road near his car. “One car swerved into my lane and it forced me to stop, and then after it passed me, I noticed it was scurrying across the street,” said Scott Hurst, 47, who noticed the ...

For years, Firefighter Rick Rickerson has been plagued by a problem. According to the National Volunteer Fire Council, each year in the United States, approximately 500,000 pets are affected by home fires; and according to the Live Safe Foundation, around 40,000 of those pets die every year. Unfortunately, Rickerson has been witness to this fact more than most people. As a ...

CLINTON — Firefighter Dean S. Weeks was on duty last night when the call came in that his restaurant, Tailgaters Grille, just 300 yards from the fire station on Main Street, was on fire. Firefighters at the station this morning were saddened over the loss of what they called Mr. Weeks' dream and passion. “We're heartbroken,” said Firefighter John W. Kobus. ...

JOLIET, IL - Republic Avenue was shut down Thursday afternoon as a Dumpster fire spread into a nearby building. The blaze was reported around 12:45 p.m. on the south end of 251 Republic. Formerly a large paint store, the building now houses Joliet Economy Furniture in the front, with a performance auto shop, medical technology company and electrical contractor under the ...

ROCKFORD, Ill. (AP) — A veteran Rockford firefighter accused of stealing more than $15,000 from the department by falsifying time sheets has resigned. Rockford fire lieutenant Brian Watkins stepped down Saturday during a hearing to decide whether he would keep his job. He'd been with the department for nearly 20 years. [widget:flywheel_links] Watkins told supporters at the Rockford Board of Fire ...

The Tri Community Fire Department was called to 1259 Lester Lane this afternoon at approximately 4:50 p.m. When they arrived on the scene it was determined that the fire was the result of a suspected methamphetamine lab. Deputies from the Hamilton County Sheriff’s Office were called to the scene as well as detectives from the narcotics division. Information was received that ...

Something seemed strange about the roaring house fire that Jeffrey Dancy encountered Tuesday morning while making his extermination rounds in south Columbus. Flames spilled out from the roof and a plume of smoke hovered over the Commander Drive residence. But no one -- including the family inside -- seemed to have noticed the blaze, which had engulfed about half of the ...

RACINE - It was a terrifying situation for more than a dozen children: being trapped on a Ferris wheel for three hours. Luckily, one of the people trapped with them was an off-duty firefighter. Capt. Nick Comande of the Racine Fire Department was riding the Ferris wheel at Racine's Party on the Pavement festival with his 9-year-old daughter Rachel. He had ...

Los Angeles, Calif. – Ford Motor Company presented the Los Angeles County Fire Department with a $75,000 donation on Tuesday to honor the firefighters’ Widows and Orphans Fund. The donation stems from Ford’s fundraising efforts at the Los Angeles Auto Show in December where Ford representatives and local firefighters were on hand to educate the public on fire safety and related ...

APPLETON, WI - When a fire strikes their home or business, most people don't think about how much training the firefighters have gotten. They just want the fire put out. But it's worth considering. Wisconsin requires 60 hours of basic fire training. If you broke that down into eight-hour workdays, it's 7½ days. That doesn't seem like a lot when you ...

WOONSOCKET, R.I. (AP) - What started out as an innocent squirt gun fight between children turned into a potentially dangerous situation for a Woonsocket neighborhood. Firefighters on Sunday responded to reports of a strong smell of ammonia in the basement of a Grove Street home. Investigators told WPRI-TV they found a smoking 7-gallon barrel of sodium hydroxide, prompting a hazardous materials ...

UPDATE 5:02 p.m.: ABC 7's Kris Van Cleave reports that the firefighter is conscious and talking. The fire engine involved has been taken to another location, possibly a county yard in Lanham, to be checked out. Original story 4:07 p.m.: A volunteer Prince George's firefighter was critically injured in a fall from a fire engine while responding to a house fire ...

HOUSTON - Her small frame consumed by 60 pounds of firefighting gear, 18-year-old Andreina Rodriguez paused to steal a moment on the steps after escaping a burning building. Her expression masked by her helmet, Andreina quietly pumped her fists in the air. She was celebrating guts; that her grit had overpowered fear. Moments later, the sweat-soaked Sterling High teen freed her ...

BOSTON - Unmarked white box trucks arrived without warning outside three Boston firehouses yesterday, as the Fire Department began random drug and alcohol testing, a quiet ending to what had become a bitter and protracted labor dispute. A total of 20 firefighters stepped inside the customized trucks with private bathrooms and running water, submitting to instant-read breathalyzers for alcohol and to ...

MADERA, Calif.—A volunteer firefighter is being credited with saving a Georgia man who fell into a creek and plunged down a waterfall while hiking in the Sierra National Forest. Madera County sheriff's spokeswoman Erica Stuart says 46-year-old Billy Williams was trying to cross a creek above Corlieu Falls Saturday when he slipped, fell into the creek and plunged down a 30-foot ...

LOS ALAMOS, N.M. (AP) — A fast-moving wildfire has broken out in New Mexico and forced officials at the Los Alamos National Laboratory to close the site Monday as residents nearby evacuate their homes. The fire has grown to 3,500 acres, or 5.4 square miles, since it started at around 1 p.m. on Sunday about 12 miles southwest of the town ...

LAWRENCE, KS - “It was like a dream.” That’s how Earl Barnes describes the motorcycle accident that cost him the lower part of his right leg. Before the accident, he was doing what he had wanted to do since he was a child: He was a firefighter. “It’s a funny thing about firefighters,” he said. “It’s something we grew up wanting ...